


The One Where Ben and April Hook Up

by jessalyn78



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-19 11:58:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4745498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessalyn78/pseuds/jessalyn78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This takes place immediately after the events of "Freddy Spaghetti" at the end of season 2.  Ben and Leslie aren't together yet, and April just found out that Andy kissed Ann.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

April felt around her glove compartment for a tissue to wipe her eyes, but all she could feel were the thick bristles of her ice brush so she settled for the sleeve of her hoodie instead. It would leave a big black stain, but she didn’t care. She just had to find a way to stop crying, that was all. Steady in and out breaths instead of heaving sobs.

She didn’t need Andy Dwyer anyway. He was dimwitted and somehow sweaty all of the time and if he wanted to kiss that slutty nurse instead of her he was insane too. Obviously. So why was she so upset? Why did she care so much when she usually cared so little?

The last thing she wanted was to go back to her house where her parents would ask her about her day and crap. She needed more time to herself, but it was getting dark and she was nervous since she’d somehow ended up at the edge of town where there were more raccoons than people.

She was about to turn the car around and head back to civilization when a day-glo sign caught her attention. “Rudy’s Barroom & Taver.” The “n” on “tavern” had burnt out years earlier, back when she and Orin used to sneak in with their fake IDs. According to hers, her name was Pocahontas Stalin and his was Alistair Dracula. Rudy was way too senile and drunk to notice or care.

For old time’s sake, and to maybe get a little shit-faced she decided to pull in. She could always call for a cab to come get her when she was finished. She was starting to get too tired to drive anyway.

It was so dark she couldn’t see shit and raccoons were fucking everywhere making mating noises in the distance so after she got out of the car, she ran as fast as she could through the parking lot to the bar. She’d be damned if she was going to become just another rabies statistic.

The bell chimed when she swung the door open and the one guy sitting at the bar turned to look at her. He looked familiar somehow, but she couldn’t place him. She hoped he wouldn’t try to talk to her.

She laid a five in front of her and took a seat “I’ll have a shot of vodka” she said to Rudy while trying to catch her breath.

“You okay?” the other guy asked. 

April turned her head and pretended she hadn’t heard him.

“It’s April, right?” he said a bit louder. “I’m Ben.”

“If you say so.”

He gave her a strange look and disregarded her comment. “You’re from the Parks Department.”

“Yeah, I was before you shut us down” she bit back. 

“Right” he said. “Sorry about that. I don’t tend to make a lot of friends at work.”

“Really? With a suit like that I wouldn’t expect you to make friends anywhere.”

“Where’s your freaky friend with the cape?” Rudy asked, handing April her drink.

April downed the shot and set the glass back on bar. “He’s away at taxidermy school.”

“What is he talking about?” Ben asked.

“Who knows?”

“Right” Ben said. “Is there any place to get a drink in this town that isn’t…unbelievably bizarre.”

“Every place in Pawnee pretty much sucks, and everyone here is stupid” she said.

“That’s okay” he said. “I’m not such a big fan of my hometown either.”

She downed another shot, and hiccuped accidentally. “I didn’t ask for your life story.”

“Someone else comin’ in, kid or are you drinking alone?” Rudy asked.

“No” she said. “I’m alone.” Her voice cracked, stupidly, and Ben must have noticed because he got this really dumb concerned look on his face.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Great” she said. “I’m just sick of this shitty music.” She walked over to the jukebox and laughed when she saw what Ben had chosen. “Green Day?”

“Green Day is one of the greatest bands of the late 90s” Ben said. “I mean, there wasn’t too much on the juke box so I just went for the next best thing…”

April stopped listening to Ben after “greatest bands of the 90s.”

“You still got Bette Midler on this thing?” she shouted to Rudy over her shoulder.

“You know it!” he yelled back.

“Bette Midler?” Ben asked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I don’t know, I just didn’t expect…”

Wind Beneath my Wings began blaring so loudly that Ben spilled his drink all over his blue button-down shirt. April thought it was hilarious. “You going to dance with me or not?” she asked.

“Dance with you?”

“Yeah!” she said. “I’m dancing. You can dance too. Or not. Whatever.”

The song was slow and didn’t really lend itself to dancing, but April didn’t give a shit. She was going to have fun without Andy if it killed her.

“Come on man, loosen up. Have some fun!”

“I thought you were seeing someone” he said. “The shoe-shine guy.”

“No” she said, her voice breaking. “We’re not seeing each other at all. He’s out somewhere kissing a slutty nurse, and I’m dancing."

Ben moved closer to her. Not being able to resist a damsel in distress was his Achilles Heel. “Hey” he said. “Don’t cry."

"I'm not" she said. "I just don't want to talk about stupid Andy anymore. I want to dance.”

“Okay” he said, and took a deep breath. “Let’s dance then.”


	2. Chapter 2

Ben stared at April as he tried his best to move to the music. She had to be, hands-down, the oddest woman he’d ever met. She was bitchy, and soulless, and way too young for him, but damn it if he wasn’t turned on by her.

“Move faster” she said, swinging her hips to a song that must have been playing in her head, because it certainly didn’t go with the one coming from the juke box. He pictured her bossing him around in bed, telling him how to get her off, maybe roughing him up a little. It’d been awhile since he’d wanted to fuck someone this badly. She was all legs, and her and her eyeliner was smudged all over her face.

“Where’d you learn to dance?” he asked.

“The dance instructor at the resort my family stayed at one summer. I lost my virginity to him even though my father disapproved but then I cleared him of petty theft charges.”

“That’s the plot to Dirty Dancing.”

“Really? What a coincidence.”

Apparently he could add pathological lying to the laundry list of things wrong with this girl, but what the hell? He wouldn’t be here in Pawnee for too long anyway. He was an adult and she was an adult. Why not have one night of meaningless sex. They both were single, depressed, and lonely.

“You're pretty” he said, feeling the sweat leave his pores as the words escaped his mouth.

“I’m pretty?” she laughed.

“Never mind, forget I said anything.”

“No” she said, moving closer to him. “Say it again.”

“Just…you have a nice face I guess, and your legs are long, and I really, really suck at this.”

He did, but in that moment April didn’t really seem to care. She grabbed his face and started making out him. Hard. Right on his face.

_________________________________________________

Ben smelled like toothpaste and cheap bar soap, and his face was completely smooth. He didn’t run his fingers through her hair like Andy did, or smile when she pulled away for air. Instead he just kind of griped the back of her skull, like no matter how hard they kissed it wouldn’t be enough. Like he was desperate. 

“Hey!” Rudy shouted. “No fucking in the bar!”

Ben jerked away, and April thought he must have been one of those goody-goody kids in school. The kind that was terrified of getting in trouble “Where are you staying?” she whispered into his neck. She could feel him harden in his pants as she leaned against him. 

“Motel down the road” he said. “But I’m kind of buzzed….I shouldn’t drive.”

“Me too” she said “We could walk.”

“Yeah” he said. “Yeah, walking, okay. That sounds good. Walking sounds good.”


End file.
